Onyx Storm
Rebecca Yarros
4 stars
Format: Hardcover
I will happily sound cliche by saying that lightning has struck with Rebecca Yarros’s third installment of her Empyrean series. Onyx Storm jumps in where Iron Flame ended and takes the reader to all new challenges, horrors, and… the beach (so fun!).
At this point, it is nearly impossible to separate the author’s work from the onslaught of theories her fans speculate on social media. Bookstagram’s algorithm is Becky-central, and everyone has to add their two cents. From analyzing book tour interviews to silly reels showcasing Ridoc’s charm, the line between canon and conspiracy is blurring. So, is the book even good or is it simply popular?
Lucky for us, it’s both! Onyx Storm is entertaining, with plenty of sizzle. While both Fourth Wing and Iron Flame had moments of humor, Onyx Storm’s funny moments were more than one-line zingers. The humor balanced the story in a way it didn’t in the first two books. It made the characters really shine and their personalities feel real. Something that didn’t require any laughs? Those sexy scenes. Wow. We barely get thirty pages in before, “How do you want me to take you, Violet?” If you ever forget this genre is romantasy, these scenes will jolt your memory. Rebecca writes “power hums” and she doesn’t just mean the lightning crackling from Violet’s fingertips.
You can’t read Onyx Storm without reading the first two books, specifically Iron Flame. I read Iron Flame in 2023 and for the first fifty pages of Onyx Storm I struggled to remember where we were, who were we with, and why we were there. I am a competent reader so this felt like an editing issue that shouldn’t have been overlooked. And the ending? It was a whirlwind. War is messy and confusing, and I think Rebecca intended to write the ending that way.
Part of the appeal of the Empyrean series is the camaraderie the readers feel with one another. I read Onyx Storm on a girls book club getaway and analyzing scenes and squealing at each other’s gasps was so much more fun than reading it alone. How can I review this book without including that experience? Few books get people giddy, and yet here we are.
